News: University of Exeter fails to meet fair access targets

Published on X-Media Online.

Failure to attract students from low-income backgrounds has led the University of Exeter to offer increased financial support for poorer students.

Exeter University is one of 44 institutions which fell short of its own fair access target in 2009/10. Figures from the Office for Fair Access (Offa) show Exeter University typically fails to meet targets for state school pupils and students from low-income backgrounds.

The University admitted it had been unsuccessful in meeting targets this year but has pledged to spend £5.5m on financial support for poorer students.

Sarah Hoyle, Media Relations Manager at the University of Exeter, said: “In 2012/13 we will spend £5.5 million on financial assistance. By 2015 the amount spent on financial assistance will have almost doubled to more than £10.3 million.

“We have always been advocates of the widening participation agenda and hope that this will encourage students from a wide range of backgrounds to apply to Exeter.”

The news follows a recent report from the University and College Union that bursaries from elite universities are not attracting poorer students.

Despite top universities spending £395m on financial support and offering substantial bursaries, the report finds that poorer students are still most likely to apply to non-elite universities.

The UCU suggest more needs to be done to attract these students to more prestigious universities.

Sarah Hoyle commented: “2012 will be a very different environment and we predict that financial support packages will be increasingly important for universities to attract and retain the very best students.

“The challenge is to communicate this, and the range of financial support available, to potential students. We are working with national organisations, such as Universities UK, to try to get this message out to a wide audience.”

Exeter University offer a range of scholarships as well as means-tested partial fee waivers and bursaries for students with a household income of below £42,600.

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IB